Design Team Info

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Welcome to Sparkle N Sprinkle's October 1 New Reveal Blog Hop!We have SIX new stamp sets to share with you today. These new sets are 20% off until Oct 3. So once you finish the blog hop, head on over to the store and start shopping. All of the new sets are available on cling mounted rubber or as a digital image.

On Oct 3, one GRAND PRIZE WINNER will be selected from the comments left on the Designers' blogs. Please leave a comment with each Designer in order to be eligible for the Grand Prize. You never know who the Mystery Designer will be that has the winning comment. The Grand Prize Winner, which will be announced on Oct 3 on the SNS Facebook page and on the SNS Blog, will receive ALL of the new stamp sets released this month (or the digi versions, if preferred).In addition to our regular Designers, we are happy to introduce you to two new Guest Designers this month. Irit and Jess will be our Guest Designers for the months of October, November, and December. We'd also like to say Thank You to our second set of Guest Designers, Ani and Chris, for a job well done!

(*Tip: if you have difficulty with a particular link, try clicking on the Designer's blog title to send you to their Home page.)

We hope you enjoy the New Reveal Blog Hop as much as we have enjoyed creating new projects for it. We also hope that we have inspired you as well. Thanks for joining us and remember to comment on each of the Designers' blogs to be eligible for the Grand Prize. (We love reading these as your comments also inspire us.) Our Latest Mystery Designer was Shona. Wonder who will be the Mystery Designer this month??

The Sparkle N Sprinkle Creative Challenge also begins today. There are lots of prizes and recognition badges. Come check out how you can become a SNS Featured Artist as well. The theme is always Anything Goes using Loose Glitter, Embossing Powder, and/or Flock.

We hope you enjoy the New Reveal Blog Hop as much as we do. Thanks for joining us and remember to comment on each of the Designers' blogs to be eligible for the Grand Prize.

front

inside

Now for a bit about my fun fold project. The front of the card was created out of a synthetic watercolor paper called YUPO paper and Color Bursts. It's basically a type of plastic that you can water color on. You definitely need to let it air dry for a quite a while as the liquid sits on top of the paper and slowly dries. If you try to dry it with a heat gun, be careful as the heat can make the paper curl (ask me how I know :-).)

I started out by creating a mask. I die cut a large circle out a pice of cardstock that was larger than my YUPO paper. I used the negative portion to create the moon and once that was dry (I let it dry overnight), I used the circle to mask the moon and colored in the sky. Again, I let that dry overnight as well. Be aware that any liquid you use on this paper will reactivate the watercolor (think liquid glue.) The clouds are die cuts from MFT (Clouds) and Memory Box (Puffy Clouds) that were die cut from white cardstock and covered with Dimensional Glue and Twinkling Clouds Sparkle N Soft flock.

The witch was heat embossed on Embossable Acetate with Ebony Spark embossing powder. The broom bristles are a combination of Ebony Spark and Antique Gold embossing powder. I decide to use the embossable acetate as I knew the YUPO paper would melt/curl with the amount of heat needed to emboss the witch. The back side of the tags (the part that is seen when the card is closed) were covered with Sparkle embossing powder.

For the inside of the card, I created an accordion style piece using the top edge of a Taylored Expressions die (Tag Stacklets One). Each panel then uses a different die.

The Skeleton is from Die-Versions and he is covered with Super Thick White embossing powder. As I was melting the embossing powder, I was careful not to completely melt it so that it was smooth. I wanted rough parts to it so that it would look more like bones. The bat is an old Spellbinders die (Nested Bats) cut out of cryogen text weight paper.

The second panel is the Black Widow die, also from Die-Versions. He's covered with more Ebony Spark embossing powder and is inlayed into the background patterned paper.

The third panel is covered with some gauze that I glued down with a spray adhesive. The Ghosts are a really, really old die from Sizzix. Do you remember the Sizzix Original dies? That's how old this die is :-). Both of these guys are covered with White Spark embossing powder.

Finally, the sentiment on the last panel, which is part of the stamp set, was heat embossed with White Detail embossing powder. The RIP Tombstone is from Die-Versions and the letters and the crow are covered with Black Ice glitter.

This last photo shows what the card looks like from the top. This was a really fun card to put together and I'd like to thank my friend Ann Williams for the fun fold inspiration. She doesn't have a blog, but she creates amazing cards and projects.

Your next stop along the hop is Irit and I know she has something amazing for you too. Don't forget to leave a comment with each of the Designer's for your chance to win all of the stamps released this month!

Thursday, September 24, 2015

It's hard to believe that there are only three more months till Christmas! If you haven't started your Christmas cards yet, now is the time :-). To help motivate you, I created a Christmas card using the Die-VersionsPartridge Branch die.

After die cutting it from white cardstock, I used my Copic markers to color this image. A Wink of Stella (Clear) brush pen was used to give a soft sparkle to the plume and to the pears. The frame, which was left over from another project, was covered with Cloud Nine velvet glitter and the background was dry embossed using a Crafters Companion embossing folder (Christmas Merriment). The card front was also dry embossed, using a Spellbinder M-Bossabilities embossing folder (Dainty Dots).

To create my sentiment, using the same color Copic as the bird plume, I colored a piece of scrap cardstock and die cut the DV Sweet Wordlet Tis The Season.

Don't forget you can use the code anne15 to save 15% off your total purchase at the Die-Versions store.

Monday, September 21, 2015

I started out with the center circle of the Seaside Sunset die from Die-Versions as the basis for the size I wanted my image to be. (It's a little over 2" round.) Once this was printed out, I colored the image with Copic markers and added Sunny Daze and Cerise glitters to her swimsuit and bathing cap. Most of the die cut was also covered with glitters: Sunny Daze for the sun, Easy Green for the palm branches, Bronze Splendor for the tree trunks, and Rapture Blue for the waves.

The mat was die cut from a piece of Super Adhesive Sheet using a Memory Box die (Debutante Frame). After exposing the adhesive, I adhered the focal image and my sentiment, which is part of the set and printed out. Then I sprinkled a little Orange Surprise glitter around the edges and covered the rest of the adhesive with Cloud Nine velvet glitter. The edges of each layer was distressed with Distress Ink (Brushed Corduroy).

Sunday, September 20, 2015

This is a planner/calendar stamp set that was included in this month's video technique kit club. This new set is 20% off until Sept 23. So once you finish the blog hop, head on over to the store and start shopping.

(*Tip: if you have difficulty with a particular link, try clicking on the Designer's blog title to send you to their Home page.)

We hope you enjoy this Mini Reveal as much as we have enjoyed creating new projects for it. And hopefully, we have inspired you as well.

Thanks for joining us and remember to comment on each of the Designers' blogs to be eligible for the Grand Prize. (We love reading your comments as they inspire us as well.)

Now a bit about my project. I combined the Big Day stamp set with the Basic Grey Calendar kit. Instead of using photos, I used digi stamps that coordinated with that month's theme and enhanced the digis with lots of glitter, embossing powder, and flock. Get ready as this is a photo intensive post :-).

To decorate the calendar cover, I used the items in the kit, plus I double embossed each of the stamps in the Big Day stamp set. I first heat embossed with a color and then covered the entire square again with VersaMark and heat embossed with Sparkle embossing powder to give each one some added punch.

I decided it would be easier to create my own stickers for the Big Day stamps rather than stamping each individual month. To do this, I stamped the images onto SNS Sticker Paper with various Distress Inks, covered the inks with Clear Detail embossing powder and heat set. Then I cut out each of the individual stickers. You could make up a whole bunch at once and keep them in an envelope (attached to the calendar) and use them as you need them.

Now for the individual calendar pages and a close-up of one of the pages with the stamped stickers I created:

Jan/Feb

March/April

May/June

July/Aug

Sept/Oct

Nov/Dec

Here is the complete list of products used to create this calendar. I have to admit, it took me almost a week to get the entire project completed, but I'm pretty happy with the results.

It's now time to head on over to Marie's blog to see what she has created using this new stamp set. Don't forget to leave a comment on everyone's blog for your chance to win both the Big Day stamp set and the Basic Grey Calendar kit.

Friday, September 18, 2015

This was such a fun Halloween card to create. I started off by die cutting the recently released Spider Web die from Die-Versions from white cardstock for the web and a shimmery black cardstock for the spiders.

The stone wall background was created using a Crafters Companion embossing folder (Dry Stone Wall). I inked up the inside of the folder with Distress Ink (Fired Brick) before running the grey cardstock through my machine. Love how the ink transfers onto the paper when you do this technique. The spiders come in two sizes with this die and I added a little red hourglass on both of their backs and googly eyes to the larger one.

Next comes the fun part. I heat embossed my spider web with Glow in the Dark embossing powder. The glow in the dark powder gives you a really cool effect.

This is what it looks like in the dark. Very fun to see, but very hard to photograph. I can never find the right button to push in the dark and then I have to keep it steady so that it isn't blurry. I let a little light come through so that you could still see the rest of the card.

The funky pumpkins were fussy cut from patterned paper and Spica glitter pens were used to give them a bit of sparkle here and there.

To start off, I stamped this Holly Berry Father Christmas rubber stamp with Staz-On ink (Jet Black) and then used Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to color the image.

A Snow Writer pen was used to add dimension to his collar and gloves and while the paint was still wet, I sprinkled on some Cloud Nine Velvet glitter. Wink of Stella was used to accent the holly leaves and berries and a shimmer mist was spritzed over the entire card for a touch more sparkle.

Now it's your turn to create a project using a rubber or digi image and use any brand of die that Scrapy Land offers. You'll have until Oct 4th to upload your entry. The winner, chosen by all the designers, will receive a $15 gift certificate to go shopping at Scrapy Land.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Beach related cards is the theme this month at Sparkle N Sprinkle. For today's card, I decided to do something I have never done before, but for a good reason :-). If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you know how much I love to color, especially with Copic markers. Well, a friend of mine was saying how she wished she had time to color and but she didn't like pre-colored images because that felt like she was cheating (almost as if she went and bought a store-bought card. Gasp!) So this card is dedicated to her. You can use a pre-colored image and "make it your own" by adding to it.

My card uses the digi version of Southern Santa and after printing it out in color, I went about "making it my own". I started out by die cutting the image with Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles die. Gypsy Red velvet glitter was added to Santa's hat and the flowers on his swimsuit. Cyclamen was added to the cute umbrella in his cocktail and each of the Christmas lights has glitter on them: Sunny Daze, Elegant Emerald, and Gypsy Red. I also used a Sakura glue pen to add adhesive around the stitching and this was covered with Neon Flamingo glitter. The wiring for the strand of Christmas lights was heat embossed with Black Detail. I used a black gel pen and traced over the wire, covered it with Black Detail, and heat embossed. Demo Donna has used this same trick in one of her videos using a regular ball point pen. Glossy Accents was also added to both flamingos' beaks as well as Santa's shades.

The edge of my sentiment, which was part of a kit I received once upon a time, was also covered in Gypsy Red glitter.

So what do you think? Is this an acceptable alternative for when you don't think you have enough time to color your own image, or do you think it's sort of cheating? I have to fess up that this is probably the only time you will see me using a pre-colored image...I love coloring with my Copics too much :-).

Friday, September 11, 2015

Halloween will be here before we know it and Die-Versions has released some great new Halloween dies this season. Today's card uses one of the new ones, RIP Tombstone, and an oldie but goodie, Wicked Witch.

After die cutting the tombstone, I saved some of the negative pieces so that I could color them with Copic markers and insert them back into the appropriate areas. The easiest way I've found to do this is to add a piece of regular tape to the back of the die cut. The open areas will have the adhesive you need to hold it in place. Another trick I use quite a bit, especially if there are vine tendrils or wispy edges, is to not adhere every single end to my base. That way, the vines look as if they are dimensional and not flat on a page.

This was a quick and easy card to put together since the ghostly background was already created on a piece of patterned paper. All the layers were distressed and torn in places before adhering to give this card an even more creepy look.

Have you started your Halloween cards yet?

I also have some very exciting news for those of you who like discounts! Starting now, you can receive 15% off the regular Die-Versions day to day prices just because you are one of my Followers! Use the code anne15 to get 15% off your total purchase every time you shop at Die-Versions!. (This discount isn't valid on sale prices.) Add it in the coupon code box in your shopping cart:

Monday, September 7, 2015

The theme this month at Sparkle N Sprinkle is Beach related stamp sets. I used Surfin' Woody and lots of masking to create today's card. If you are unfamiliar with the masking technique, you stamp the image in the foreground first. Stamp it again on a scrap pice of paper and fussy cut it out. Temporarily adhere it over the stamped image and then stamp your second layer, in this case the hammock and trees, and repeat the process if you are stamping a third image. For this card, both the car and the trees had to be masked to create my fence border.

I used watercolor paper and all the images were stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed using Black Detail embossing powder. Everything was then colored with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers, including the water and the sky. It's hard to see in the photo, but Sparkling Coffee Sparkle N Soft flocking was also added to the coconuts.

The card front is actually a piece of recycled mail that a friend of mine received. It was made from heavy cardstock and was a promotional piece. She saw me eyeing it, and knowing that I love stuff like that, asked me if I would like to have it :-). I thought it was perfect for this fun-in-the-sun scene. I added 1/8" Tear-ific Tape around the edges and covered it with more Cobalt Glaze velvet glitter.

My sentiment, which is part of the set, was stamped onto a piece of white cardstock die cut using a Sizzix die (Tim Holtz: Labels) with Black Detail embossing powder. Some Zig watercolor brushes were used to give it color. Once I was happy with the color, I covered the entire piece with VersaMark and Clear embossing powder. Before heat setting it though, I sprinkled on a little Sparkling Snow glitter so that it would sparkle. As the embossing powder melts, it adheres the glitter beautifully.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

It's the first Wednesday of the month and that means it's time for a new Scrapy Land Challenge! The theme is Anything Goes Using any Brand of Die that Scrapy Land sells.

Did you realize that Christmas is now less than four months away? To help inspire you I've created a CAS Christmas card using the Die-Versions Christmas Cardinal and the Noel Sweet Wordlet.

This is a pretty easy card to assemble with the only difficult part (which really isn't) is die cutting the image out of multiple colors of cardstock and inlaying them together. Inlaid die cutting technique is the official term for it. Be sure to save the negative pieces as well as the main pieces, as you will need to use both.

To add a little more interest to my cardinal, I heat embossed his beak with Lemon Chiffon embossing powder and added touches of Copic markers here and there. In order to create a snow covered branch, I added DecoArt Snow Writer to the branch and sprinkled on some Diamond Dust glitter for extra sparkle.

The sentiment is a Sweet Wordlet and I think these are the perfect size for card fronts. For the complete list of all the Sweet Wordlets, check them out here.

After die cutting my sentiment from gold metallic cardstock, I adhered it to a strip of ribbon. Hope you enjoy today's CAS card and it gets you motivated to start making your Christmas cards. Christmas will be here before you know it :-).

Be sure to check out what the rest of the team has created for you too. You will have until Sept 13 to upload your project.

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